DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW-COST WASHING MACHINE SUITABLE FOR POLYTHENE MATERIALS

Recycling of plastic wastes is the best approach to addressing both the environmental and economic problems associated with its disposal. Washing of the plastic material is an integral part of the recycling process. This paper reports the development of a machine from locally available materials suitable for washing polythene materials. The primary motivation of the work is to save time and labor and wash efficiently. In a bid to achieving these objectives, we chose the front loading condition because of its advantages over top loading. Materials for the washing machine were carefully selected based on their application area, the distributed stress and load acting on them respectively. The device coupling followed a careful design of the inner and outer tubes, belt, shaft and frame support. The washing rate and quality of wash were used to evaluate the constructed washing machine. The wash time and mass of polythene sachets washed are 0.02 kg in 3 minutes, 0.04 kg in 4 minutes and 0.06 kg in 5 minutes respectively. The washing machine was found to be effective.